Mr. Hooligan (28 page)

Riley said “ ’Scuse me, ’scuse me,” pushing past a man assorting plastic bags of purchase; knocking paperbacks off a wire rack display and not giving a shit; going straight for the back counter where Mirta was tending to a woman, Carlo there chatting with them.

Carlo saw Riley and turned abruptly for the back door. Riley kicked a wheelbarrow out of his way and pointed at him. “No, don’t go anywhere.”

Carlo racewalked through the back door, slammed it shut behind him. Riley moved around the counter and kept going, hearing Mirta’s shrill voice, “Hey what’s all this?”

Riley pulled open the door and stepped into the cement backyard. Carlo stood there, maybe ten paces from the door. His hand was a blur and out flicked a knife, down by his side. He said, “Sure you want to proceed?”

Riley pointed, took a step forward. “You said you weren’t gonna touch him.”

“Come, come,” Carlo waving him on, “right where I want you.”

“Just dishonorable bitches, what you people are, you and your lying-ass brother.”

“We didn’t promise you anything, chief, not one thing.”

“Firebomb the house, man? That’s your method now? Are you people insane?”

“Keep coming, that’s right.” Carlo in a loose crouch, grinning, the knife going in slow circles. “Yeah, baby, yeah, that’s it, step up. You know how long I been wanting to do this?”

Riley stopped, his heart pulsing in his throat, watching Carlo drop one foot back, arching the blade through the air. Riley said, “I want to talk to Israel.”

The blade slowed its revolutions, and Carlo’s arm drifted down. “We’re talking now?”

“We’re talking, what else?”

Carlo nodded, relaxing, rising out of his crouch, nodding some more. “Then back the fuck up ’cause I can do ‘what else’ quick time.” He closed the knife against his leg but kept it in his fist, motioning with his chin for Riley to step aside. Carlo walked past, eyeing Riley.

Through the open door, Riley saw him pick up the phone on the pillar in the store. He talked for a bit, came out and said, “Let’s go upstairs.” He waited for Riley to take the lead and stayed well back going up the stairs.

Israel was on the living room sofa peeling a tangerine, dropping the skin on a saucer in his lap. He seemed amused with Riley. “You pissed?” He slid a plug of tangerine into his mouth.

Riley stood in the center of the room.

Israel chewed, his lips wet with juice, eyes smiling. He raised another plug to his mouth but seemed to pick up on Riley’s mood and laid the tangerine down and put the saucer aside. He said, “Sit down, please.”

“No, I’m good.” Riley’s gaze following Carlo as he moved to the other side of the room, leaned in a doorway, arms folded. “Wouldn’t want to get too comfortable around you people.”

Israel shook his head and said to Carlo, “Hear that now? ‘You people.’ ”

Carlo clucked his tongue. “I believe we’ve gone and hurt his feelings.”

Israel looked at Riley. “Is that right? You’re too experienced to think this is anything but a hard business, Riley. Are you slipping? Tell me.”

“I had your word,” Riley said.

“No no no, you had my word I’d talk to the Mexican, that’s it. What’s coming home to you today is just how crazy some folks can be.”

Carlo said, “No more crazy than your asshole friend. Thinking he could waltz in and out with other people’s property.”

“Somebody must’ve put that idea in his head,” Israel lifting a finger, leveling it at Riley. “Was it you did that, Riley?”

“You’re still on that story?”

Israel wiped his fingers on a paper napkin, one by one. “Let me tell you how it is, Riley. We needed to extend a gesture, a favor for a friend, something on the order of—oh, retribution—call it whatever you want. The way I see it, it was purely a business decision. My Mexican
compadre
didn’t take kindly to your supremely fucking foolish amigo stealing from him and then living like it was nothing while,” Israel wadded the napkin, pitched it on the coffee table, “his two trusted employees didn’t return and are here rotting on foreign soil in unmarked graves, which I have to remind you that it was we who did the digging.”

“You mean it was
me
who did the digging,” Carlo said.

“I stand corrected.”

Riley breathed in deep; there wasn’t enough air in the room. He looked at the floor, his hands sort of cupped down in front of him like when he tried in vain to meditate, and at that moment, he knew he could easily hurt somebody again. Starting with one of these Monsantos. “Well hear this, I brought your four missing buckets, so I’m done. You want somebody to make your delivery, look elsewhere.”

Israel and Carlo exchanged a glance. Israel said, “I expected you might say something like that.”

“I can’t trust you. Should I start watching my back now?”

“Settle down, don’t get hysterical. You want to listen to me with a clear head, especially since I have a sweet offer to make.”

“I’m not doing this run, Israel, I’m not.”

“Tuesday morning. Down the New River, you transfer it to their boat, they carry it upriver to wherever, then they filter it across the border by trucks in three or four trips, something like that. We’re sorting out the details but I know this much: Nobody’s getting the jump on us this time, and I need you to complete this run, you’re the man knows all those routes in that river, the twists and turns. We need you, son.”

“At what price?”

“There you go. You do this run? The interest on that bar loan? Clear, all clear on my books, you won’t owe me a cent more than the principal.”

“Maybe,” Riley said, “it would be better if it was a cleared debt. For all the hardship this thing has caused, combat pay, you know what I’m saying?”

Carlo let out a whoop. “Ho baby! Listen to this shit.”

Riley looked from one to the other, waiting to see how far he could take it.

“You come into
my
house,” Israel said, “insult me like this, like it’s your due. You have some damn nerve, son.”

Riley looked off, nodded, then headed for the door.

“Riley.”

“No, let him go.”

Riley, a hand on the doorknob, looked at Israel. “This is bullshit, you realize that? All of this.”

“Your interest will be clear with me, that’s a solid offer.”

“But will it bring Harvey back? His wife? He screwed me over, Israel, but he was my friend. My business partner. And I thought I had your word. I need to feel certain you won’t go back on your word again. Considering everything? It’s better you forget about me.”

“Look at me, son, and let’s forget the bullshit—since when me and you had problems? All these years, we’ve been straight with each other, when it comes down to the deals, me, you, and Carlo. Don’t let the actions of your rotten, betraying so-called friend cloud your reasoning, Riley. He was the one that started this, not you. He had no place in our affairs, none. He should’ve known that, so don’t feel responsible for him.”

Riley exhaled, jammed his hands in his pockets and looked up at the ceiling. He rolled back on his heels. Looked at the floor. “When you say? Hypothetically speaking.”

“Tuesday morning. Before daybreak.”

“And if I’m dumb enough to do this, who handles the transaction on their side to give me the cash?”

“That’s what I’m saying, details to come. As of right now, with all the attention lately, we might need to get creative.”

“See now, I don’t know what that means.”

“I’m saying we might handle the money exchange in another location, but we don’t know where yet. Logistics, logistics…”

“Communicate with me by radio or something?”

“There you go, that’s an idea. Welcome back, Riley.”

Riley could not get a full breath. He needed to leave before it started to show. He told them, “You know my number,” and didn’t have to say any more by way of agreement; they’d known each other so long.

Israel said they’d call him after noon, and Riley opened the door, went out. They might know each other’s idiosyncrasies, but what the Monsantos couldn’t know was how much his knees were trembling as he walked down the stairs.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Riley drove all the way down Albert Street and circled left around St. John’s Cathedral to head back north on Regent Street. After another circle like this, after he was sure no one was trailing him, he squeezed into a space between two trucks on Regent and got out of the pickup. He walked along Regent in the sticky humidity, hoping he wouldn’t meet anyone he knew, anyone who might want to stop and chat. It wasn’t until he hooked a right on Prince Street, going toward the sea, that he felt he could relax, breathe deeper.

He turned right on Southern Foreshore and walked along the seawall until he came to Miles’s house, a white and green colonial wood-frame, three stories, garage and storeroom downstairs, verandah and living area on the second floor, bedrooms on the top. He opened the front gate, went up the path to the covered stairway, glad for the sea breeze in the shade. He rang the doorbell and said, “It’s me, Riley.” No one answered; he rang again. “It’s Riley.”

He heard the door being unbolted. He waited before he opened it and entered.

Across the room, Harvey stood in disheveled T-shirt and shorts. “Riley,” he said, raising a cell phone. “My house, I just found out. My neighbor’s texting me like crazy. Damn, Riley, these Monsantos don’t play.”

Riley walked in, hearing sobs coming from upstairs; he took a wild guess that it was Gert. He headed to the kitchen, Harvey slouching in after him, the once cocky Harvey looking beaten down and haggard. He asked Riley if he wanted a cup of coffee, he’d just made Guatemalan Arabica, was all he could find. Riley poured a cup, dumped in cream and sugar, and sat at the rough-hewn table. “Where’s Miles?”

Harvey dropped heavily in the chair across from Riley. “Upstairs, fixing a toilet, I think.” He planted his elbows on the table, shaking his head. “Lopez, man, he keeps calling and calling.”

“You going to answer?”

“I already know what he’s gonna say. ‘Where are you? Where are the buckets?’ It wouldn’t be no ‘Thank god you’re alive,’ that’s for sure.”

“Next time, answer him.”

“Yeah?”

“And tell him they took the buckets before they burnt the place, but you managed to put away some of the coke.”

“Why would I want to say that?”

“ ’Cause some might have accidentally fallen out, like three kilos, into some bags I stashed somewhere. Keep this in mind, Harvey, coke is like money. It got us in trouble, and it might help get us out.”

Harvey sat back and stared at Riley. “Don’t go getting all crafty, I don’t want no part of this.”

“Harvey? Let me take this opportunity to inform you that, hello, you’re already part of this.”

Harvey sagged. Riley tipped his chair back against the wall and studied him. “You said last time you spoke to Lopez, couple days ago, he didn’t know that the Monsantos had found you out. Now he does. But tell him I don’t believe it, what they’re saying about you, and tell him I’m helping you hide out somewhere but you can’t say where. Tell him I don’t agree with what the Monsantos did to your house and there is confusion in the camp, but I still have to do their bidding and deliver those buckets.”

“Confusion in the camp … Okay, but look—”

“You know why you’re going to tell him you stashed some of the cane away? ’Cause you want him on your side.”

Harvey looked like he was in pain.

“You don’t want him thinking you turned coat, getting scared and begging me for forgiveness.” Riley took a beat for him to get the message. “Especially since, last time you talked to him, things weren’t looking too hot for him. Isn’t that what he said?”

Harvey shrugged. “He said Minister Burrows wasn’t happy. So?”

“The guy needs a friend.”

“I don’t want to be it.”

“Well, guess what, it’s either him or the Monsantos, and they don’t want you and you can’t hide in this house forever.”

“What about you, Riley, I’m with you.”

“Me? I’m with the Monsantos, buddy.”

“Riley, man, this is me,” Harvey said, palming his chest. “Me and you, R.J. Why you being like this?”

“Being like what? Like trying to save your life?”

“How is that? You’re pushing me away.” Harvey’s face was getting red.

Riley couldn’t deny a part of him was enjoying this. He let the chair down and drank some coffee. “I’d be interested to know, when you talk to Lopez again, what his plans are. The minister giving him a certain access and turning a blind eye, then backing away when it gets too hot? I’d like to know where his mind is. Pick his brain for me, Harvey. Think you could do that?”

Harvey took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palms. “Hell, man, my life is over.”

“Nope, you follow my directions you might get your life back. Open a bar again, start making money again, the honest way. Customers are getting thirsty.”

Someone was coming down the stairs and Riley waited. Miles entered the kitchen with a toilet tank ball and flush handle. “Riley.” He looked from Riley to Harvey. “I’m interrupting?”